Scientists Say Strongest Black Hole Merger Ever Observed “Challenges Our Understanding of How Black Holes Form”

With 99% certainty, the data reflect Hawking’s assertion that when two black holes merge into one, the new black hole has an area greater than the two originals combined. That honor goes to the most powerful black hole merger on record, GW231123, consisting of 100 and 140-solar-mass black holes smashing together to form a 225-solar-mass black hole. Eventually, the new black hole may grow to 260 solar masses, far outside of the typical range for similar black holes. “The observation challenges our understanding of how black holes form,” Ezquiaga said. “Black holes of such large mass shouldn’t arise through ordinary stellar collapse.”“One possibility is that the two black holes in this system were themselves formed by previous mergers of smaller black holes, but in truth, we don’t know,” Ezquiaga said.